Morning journal and courier., 1887-12-30

Rev. NAT. Mosman's Annual Report as
 Superintendent of City Missions.
 To the Board of Directors of the City Mis-
 sions of New Haven, Conn.,:
 To secure efficiency in the work of city
 missions there is required the whole time of
 one or more persons who can always be de-
 pended on not only to be engaged in progres-
 sive work of their own, but ready to gather
 up at any time fragmentary work that must often be dropped by others, who as volun- teers can give but limited part of their time to this service. The paid workers, whether few many, should be the nucleus of large number of volunteer workers, who can be all the more readily secured if each is shown that his or her efforts will not be lost, ! but gathered up and treasured as precious | parts of larger work for God and fellew- | men. And upon this basis the work of city | missions under your care is being built. During the past year, ending October l, | 1887, there have been employed in missiona- " service 8 superintendent of missions, @ \ lady missionary for 8 part of her time and also two assistants, but only for limited portion of the year. In addition to these there has been large number of volunteer workers, varying at times from one hundred to two hundred persons. My report of the work of the year will therefore naturally di- vide itself into two parts, viz: Personal Work and Other work Under Care, the latter ! including both paid work and work by vol | unteers.
 I. PERSONAL WORK.
 Upon the general case list for the year ! there are GA families (or persons living alonel including about 2,250 persons. 142 { of these families have been under the care of those who have assisted in the work; the others, 502 families (numbering about 1,75O | persons), have been under my own missiona- " care. On my parish list for the year are BIO of these families (more than 1000 per sons) without other pastoral care and willing to be under my own. Out of this number reported during the year to IF other minis ters of the city (of 6 different denemina- tions) A families, with 145 persons included, ' fer their pastoral care. Included 1n thls number were 45 persons who were brought \ to the notice of F churches for member | ship; s7 on profession and IS by letter. Number of calls made CT received in mis- | sionary work, over 5000; conversation, Bible | reading or prayer, once or more with lditfer- \ ent persons) i 1,05S; professed conversion un- | der missionary care, 4S; restored to Chris | tian living, wholly or in part, 72; others \ aroused to personal interest in t religious ' life, 103.
 \ Upon my sick list during, the year there \ were 60 persons; marriages, baptisms and funeral services in cases with no other pasto- ral care, IA; persons assisted to reform bad \ habits, 5S; apparently reformed, wholly or [ in part, 39; destitute Christian people assis- \ ted, 35; other destitute families provided for, \ wholly or in part, 13; cases of destitution re- ported to Board of Charities or other relief agencies, 22; different streets of the city wis., ! ited in missionary service, 105; different na- \ tionalities represented on my visiting list for < the year, 15.
 During the winter special efforts were made to
 Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners for fam
 ment between n the City Missions and the Board of
 art the most Of thls pleasant work was cone
 left for me to do in using funds specially given to
 and needing this kindly attention, and others known
 to as liable to be forgotten because ot their un.
 willingness ask for help at the ordinary relief City Mission Fresh Air Fund" enabled me to pro
 @ @ n not T GH f9T the eso and 9f R
 dren's meeting but also, last year, to end in-
 the Home for the Friendess, inc Chi dren's County Home and the Day Nursery. Ten carriage trips: with double teams, weEe placed at the disposal of the hospital. ashouse and Board of Charities for such use during the summer as they desired The
 two church homes for old ladies were also invited to
 send for carriages to give any there pleasant trip to the park or elsewhere. Tickets for S4vin Rock for all who were known as needing day at the
 shore, besides longer excursions on the Sound for others.
 During the past year have undertaken to strengthen our work by establishing mission \ rooms in the central part of the city, not only to serve as headquarters for the work and provide for the needs of it's various de- partments, but also to give opportunity to gather together on the Sabbath, and as often as possible during the week, members of fam flies with whom I had become acquainted \ and who were under my missionary care, and not yet in readiness for recommendation to churches and pastoral care l had not done this before because it seemed to me needless to have another hall for such purposes when that had been for several years oDen far the same purpose was not by any means fully occupied. Several efforts had been made by the City Missionary society in previous years to range for elective working between the two missionary organizations of the city, with the common use of one hall, and such mission work connected with it as might be necessary for better work and yet with less expense, and before opening another set of rooms made renewed effort in the same direction. But as there seemed to bs no pos sibility of bringing it about on any good working basis, on the 1st of November, 1886, I commenced holding meetings every evening of the week, with two services on the Sab \ bath, at first on Chapel street, but after a short time, by transfer to Meadow street, 8 better place was secured in a more conven- ! tent locality for mission work and yet at lees expense.
 The meetings in this way commenced have been continued without single interruption during the whole year. The attendance has been good from the first, the average on the Sabbath being about hundred different persons at the two services, and on week \ evenings about twenty-five, sometimes more, ' sometimes less, but always enough for a \ helpful meeting The rooms are st Nos. 188 \ and 192 Meadow street, near George street, | and only about two minutes walk from the ! Postofdce, and being on the first floor are ea- silly accessible. One of the rooms is occu- pied as a chapel, another for the Woman's Board and committee meetings, and another ! by the janitor of the rooms, who is always there to receive any word that may be left for either the lady missionary or myself. Under this arrangement these who are en- gagged to do missionary work are not obliged to be at the mission rooms but limited time during the day, and give their time to the increasing work of visiting families already found in different parts of the city without Christian care, and also to finding more.
 In addition to my regular work already re- ported, and such miscellaneous work
 seemed properly to belong to me- have en- gagged in district visiting from house to house in parts of the Sixth, Ninth and Eleventh wards; have had the care and expenditure of
 the various mission funds seven in all the
 establishing and oversight of mission sta tions; the conducting of mission meetings and providing others to do the same; confer ence with pastors about families or persons desiring their care, or to attend join churches; assistance to pastors helpers and others who have undertaken to visit families or engage in district visiting. It is neither needful nor possible to go into details that
 would cover the ground that we are trying to occupy. I will only add that although asked at different times during the year to enter upon other evangelistic work elsewhere, to engage in church work and also to enter the foreign missionary service, it has not seemed to me best to do so. Although it was my purpose to spend my life in the foreign field, I find there is foreign missionary work to be done at home. There is also work to be done that churches do not yet seem to be do ing and that the ordinary evangelistic meth ods do not reach. I would like to help lift
 the work of city missions to it's proper place in the mission work of the world. I feel that the problem of city missions is not yet fully mastered either here or elsewhere, but believe it is approaching solution. It ia only as we can get Gods mind in regard to it, and then are enabled by him to act upon it, that we can expect successful result But both of these conditions believe to be possible, and therefore believe should still seek, expecting to find that result